Process of and apparatus for preparing textile fibers for spinning



G. C. LAURENCY AND M. VIGIEB.

PROCESS OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING TEXTILE FIBERS F OR SPINNING.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, I921.

"1,422,5 1, PatentedJuly 11, 1922 PROCESS or AND Armin-earns Eon-ZPBEPARING TEXTILE EIBEns EOE srnvmns.

AppIication filed May 26,

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 111, iaaa 1921. Serial no. 472,851.

(GRANTED 1mm THE rnovrsroiis or TEE ACT or Manon 3', 1921, 4.1 s'rar.1., 1313.

T 0 all whom it may concern I Be it known that we, GUILLAUME CLEMENTLAURENOY, a subject of the King of Belgium,

and MAnoEL VIGIER, a French citizen, both residents of London, in thecounty of London, England, have invented certain Improvements in theProcesses of and Apparatus for Preparing Textile Fibers for Spinning(for which we have filed an application in England on November 24:,1919, Patent Iva-147,393), of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the process of and apparatusfor preparing textile fibers for spinning and whilst it has particularreference to the treatment of wool fibers may be applied to other fibersin which the process and apparatus are applicable or useful, the objectbeing to card, comb, smooth and double the fibers in a single continuousoperation and leave the resultant doubled ribbon or sliver with thefibers in parallel order and of equal density throughout its totallength.

With the aforesaid objects in view the steps of our improved process andapparatus comprise the removal of the fibers from the carding enginecylinder in a series of separate tufts, carding and combing a portion ofsaid tufts during removal, retaining the tufts by sectional combs whilstcarrying themaway from the card, ironing said tufts underv theapplication of heat and friction and removing the fibers from thecarrying meansby friction whilst their forward ends are combed, seizingsaid forward ends to enable the rear ends of the tufts to be combed,

joining the combed tufts together so as-to} form a continuous wide sheetand finally dividing up said sheet into narrow ribbons doubled or.superimposed one upon the other to form a sliver ready for spinning orfor further attenuation by other known processes prior to spinning.

Our invention will be fully described with referenceto theaccompanyingdrawing in which,v

F ig; 1, is a sectional side elevation of ap paratus constructed inaccordance with our invention to carry 'outthe process referred toFig.2, partialelevation from two points looking. away from the cylinderof the cardingi engine and Fig. 3, front elevation of a plate detailhereinafter referred to. r X In accordance with our invention Aindicatesthe cylinder of a carding engine covered with wire filleting in theusual way and having in close proximity wit a cylinder B,.both rotatingat the required speeds in the direction of the arrows. Cylinder B may beappropriately termed the combing cyllnder its periphery being providedwith sections 1 of card wire alternating avith plain smooth or polishedsections 2. The card wire sections have the wires in pro gresslvelycloser formation at the rear in the direction of rotation than at thefront and the smooth sections have their periph eral surfaces in a truecirclewith the card wires. The cylinder B is heated internally as by asteam coil 3, the pipe passing through the trunnlon bearings, of thecylinder to allow of steam admission and for the discharge of the waterof condensation.

The object of the card wire sections 1 on cylinder B is to detach thefibers. from card cylinder A in separate and distinct tufts and whilstthis is being done each suc ceeding smooth zone 2 supports the fibersduring withdrawal to enable therear ends of the tufts tobe carded orcombed, cleaned and parallelized by the card wire on cylinder A whilstthe front ends of the tufts are held in the wire sections 1. As the combarrows. The band or apron 0 travels in,v

contact with the cylinder B at a slower peripheral speed thanthe latter,the object of'this being to set upsufiicient friction to enable thefibers to beironed or smoothed by the heated zones 2, to be keptinparallel form and finally to detach the forward ends of the tufts fromthe comb zones 1 during" which latter action, such forward ends arecombed out asth'e wires theyfare leaning,

passforward at a rate'of speed in excess of the band C. At the same timethe tufts of fibers progress towards the right and at a predeterminedpoint are met by a second band or apron D of leather or other su1t- 5ablematerial mounted upon rollers o (l with a roller 6 between them tokeep them straight. The band D travels in the opposite direction to bandC, its forward loop being in direct contact with the latter at its rearend. The object of this arrangement is to grip the forward ends of thetufts to detach the latter from cylinder B and also whilst gripping themin this manner to allow the rear ends of the tufts to be again combed bythe zones 1. By the time these actions are taking place the succeedingtufts have travelled forward and it is at this 7 point that the forwardends of such tufts are attached to the rear ends of the first set oftufts. These actions take place successively and in this way the tuftsare formed into a complete web of combed, cleaned and parallelizedfibers.

The fibers which are too short to stretch across the smooth zones 2 areretained by the wire Zones 1 along with dirt and other matter. They areeach subsequently 1 removed by a rotating brush t which discharges thedirt and the like into a trough 5 whilst the short fibers are detachedfrom brush 1 by a wire stripping brush 6 from whose surface they areremoved by a rapidly reciprocating comb 7 such as is employed 7 inconnection with the doffer cylinder of a cotton carding engine, into asecond trough 8. Both troughs are fitted with travelling lattices whichremove the dirt and short fibers separately to suitable places.

4:, is a rotating brush driven more slowly than the band C to retard thefibers slightly so that they may be straightened before passing betweenthe band and cylinder B.

The web in sheet form is subsequently divided up into equal narrowribbons which aresuperposed one upon the other to form a single sliverready to pass to a spinning operation or to any other machine in whichit may be desired to further attenuate it prior to spinning.

Thus on coming out from the bands C and D in the form of web or in acontinuous sheet, the fibers are deposited on an apron formed by anendless band E which moves round on the cylinders 10 and 11 advanc inglaterally each time that it passes round them and receiving each time anadditional layer or ribbon of fibers. After having traversed the wholelength of the cylinders, it is relieved of its fibers and brought backto its starting point by the small pulleys 12, 13, 1a where it beginsthe same passage again. The layers of superposed fibers which this bandEbrings at the end of its passage are all the more numerous in proportion as it has passed more frequently the separation of ribbon.

from one cylinder to the other, and as giving a slight width only tothis band Wlll permit of its making this passage more than 100 times. Inorder to cover the working width of an ordinary machine the ribbon thatit brings will always be formed very exactly by 100 layers of rlbbonscollected together on all the working width of the machine. As a resultof this fact, the I111};- ture of the fibers becomes more perfect thanin any system known and the 190 layers of superposed ribbonscorresponding to 100 doublings of ribbons in preparation for thespinning of combed fibers, suppresses radically all irregularities ofsectlon 1n the ribbon, even in the case of a defective'feeding at thecarding machlne.

After its lastpassage the band E 1s relieved of its fibers by the pulley151wh1ch conveys them to the rubbing aprons 16-1(' to be then wound onbobbins 18 or put in their cans 19 in the usual way. The roller 15 iscovered with leather and it glides over a metallic piece 20 Figs. 1 and8 to effect The high speed which can be given to the combing cylinder Bin consequence of its manner of working with the main card cylindersecures a high production on the machine and at the sametime a very fineribbon which permits of a greater inl ly of doublings at the drawingoperations;

In the usual types of carding machines, the superficial speed of themain cyllnder varies according to the nature andv quality of the fibersbeing dealt with, is about 500 to 600 yards per minute for W001 and 800to 1200 yards per minute for cotton. The superficial speed of the dofferequals about 1/31 or 1/32 that of'the main cylinder. This relationbetween the speeds of the main cylinder and of the dofi'er cannot bemodified eithermore or less without lessening the production or thepower of the carding machines as they are. By our method, on thecontrary, the superficial speed of the wool-comber cylinder B lendsitself to endless variations. It can be below or above the speed of Aand-an increase of production follows on every increase of speed. Thespeed given to this cylinder B is generallysuch as to throw ofl almostall the fibers carded by the machine. Now as it is estimated that theexisting doffer throws off, on an average, only about one quarter of thefibers carded which are on themain cylinder, the superficial speed ofthe woolcomber cylinder B should be, equal to about one quarter of thatof the main cylinder A the speed of which is not modified. 125, V

A for cotton :800 to 1200 yards per minute, superficial speed ofcylinder B for cotton 200 to 300 yards per minute.

The principle that we have described for cleaning, combing, sorting andsmoothing the fibers as well as that for mixing and doubling thesefibers and transforming them' into a combed ribbon, can be applied,according to the needs of the case, entirely or in part, in combinationwith known 1nachines for the preparation of textile fibers for spinning.

lVhat we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. The processof preparing textile fibers for spinning consisting in the removal ofthe fibers from the carding engine cylinder in a series of separatetufts, carding and combing a portion of said tufts during removal,retaining the tufts by sectional combs whilst carrying them away fromthe card, ironing said tufts under the application of heat and frictionand removing the fibers from the carrying means by friction whilst theirforward ends are combed, seizing said forward ends to enable the rearends of the tufts to be combed, and joining the combed fleeces togetherso as to form a continuous wide sheet.

2. The process of forming the web sheet according to claim 1 into asliver, consisting in dividing said sheet into narrow ribbons doubled orsuperimposed one upon the other to form a sliver ready for spinning orfor further attenuation by other known processes prior to spinning.

3. In apparatus for carrying out the process claimed in claim 1, acarding engine cylinder, a combing cylinder co-acting therewith havingits periphery divided up into alternating card wire or needle zones andsmooth zones, means for heating the comb cylinder, a band or apronco-acting with the comb cylinder and travelling at a less superficialspeed than the latter and a second band travelling in the oppositedirection to the first band and co-acting there with to remove thefibers from the comb cylinder.

4c. The combination with the apparatus claimed in claim 3, of the meansfor carrying out the process claimed in claim 2, consisting of a narrowendless band co-acting i with the travelling hands referred to in claim3, means for supporting and traversing the band laterally to superimposeor double the ribbons of fiber and means for removing the doubledribbons from the band and transferring them to a roller or to a slivercan.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence oftwo wit nesses.

G. C. LAURENCY. M. VIGIER.

Witnesses Koss EssoN, FREDK BUSHLY.

